Why is the word hacienda associated with wealth and heritage?

A fact that allows us to understand the economy and society of colonial times and the first years of our Independence. It is given by the expression hacienda.

This word, whose original meaning is linked to the idea of ​​heritage and wealth, In almost all Latin American countries it refers to a rural productive establishmentfrom a sugar, cocoa or cotton plantation, to a “ranch” – as it is called in Mexico – livestock (our typical ranch) or some variant that combines livestock and agriculture.

In the Río de la Plata and more particularly in Buenos Aires, the Litoral and the then Banda Oriental (present-day Uruguay), Hacienda is synonymous with livestock, and more specifically with cattle.

In our region or subregion, heritage, more than the land itself, It was given by the animals available.

Furthermore, especially in the beginnings of rural production, The land was valuable insofar as it gave the right to livestock.both cattle and horses.

The grant and, more precariously, the possession of land, were the title required to obtain from the authorities the permission to collect or hunt bighorn cattle.

Although lands and animals were also “realengos”, property of the king, who through his officials could grant them through grants and licenses, in the River Plate practice, endorsed by the authorities, a double criterion was imposed.

While the extensive wild herds, descendants of the mares raised since the arrival of Pedro de Mendoza, were treated as “freely available” to whoever could catch them, Maroon cattle were considered animals that had escaped from ranches.and only their owners are authorized to capture them.

The owner of a ranch did not always have a very clear title of ownership, based on an original grant or the purchase of the land, and on more than one occasion his inclusion among the “shareholders”, that is, licensees of a dairy farm, contributed to whitewashing it.

Over time, ranchers received the names of ranchers, breeders or landowners, sometimes used interchangeably, although the latter term, at least at the beginning of the 19th century, seems to have been reserved for the wealthiest or most affluent sector.

Although there was a great disparity in situations between them, in terms of wealth and power, in general terms They were in a better situation than the farmerswho were dedicated to agriculture.

This was little and not at all profitable, especially if you take into account that required greater availability of labor for planting and harvestingand greater capital immobilization.

Still at the beginning of the 19th century, in his reports as secretary of the Consulate and, later, from the pages of the Correo de Comercio newspaper, Manuel Belgrano deplored the terrible condition of agriculture and farmers in the River Platea situation that would not change substantially until the last third of that century.

Much of Fruit trees and vegetables were grown in the back patios of urban houses.and those that required more extension, in the country houses and farms around Buenos Aires, which extended from the current neighborhoods of Núñez and Saavedra to San Fernando, in the north; from what is now Congreso to San José de Flores, to the west; and from Barracas to Lomas de Zamora, in the south.

Wheat and, to a lesser extent, corn were grown on the farms.but also in the rooms.

At least a third of the Buenos Aires ranches, according to the census or register of 1789, allocated some fraction of land to agriculture or tree planting.